R.I.P Chet Herbert - Hot Rod Genious

[asphaltgambler]

Sad day in motorsports today. He was a lving legend. He "invented" roller camshafts for auto applications. What most people don't know is that he used the roller lifters from a early harley and adapted them to use in V-8's and then went on to regrind a roller profile from stock cams.

He was the first guy to run nitro in an internal combustion engine, first guy to design 'zoomie' headers for early top fuel dragsters to help with down-force at half track and beyond. the guy was unbelieveable IMO.

A short Bio here:

Chet Herbert has been confined to a wheelchair since 1948, a victim of polio, but he never let that stop him from taking center stage in the swift, demanding sport of drag racing. From the sidelines he became one of the sport's truest innovators and producer of cams and Zoomie headers.

Herbert, born in Glenbar, Arizona, and raised in Los Angeles, terrorized the streets in the mid-1940s with a highly competitive Harley-Davidson motorcycle. In 1948, polio left him paralyzed from the chest down, and although he could no longer drive, his mechanical zeal was not abated.

Now 78, Chet, still operates Herbert Cams and Speed Shop on 1935 Manchester Ave., in Anaheim. His younger sister, Doris, and his son, Doug, played prominent roles in the sport, as well. Doris was publisher of Drag News, the first great drag racing newspaper; and for several years Chet's son, Doug, acquitted himself well as a professional driver, winning an IHRA championship and five NHRA national events. Incidentally, Doug has a speed shop in Cherryville, N.C.

At an early age, Chet's parents visualized a musical career and bought him a trumpet . . . something that he eventually traded for a motor scooter. He said his uncle, a mechanic, was instrumental in switching his career from the performing arts to mechanical parts.

While at one of the first drag races at Santa Ana (1950), his rider (he couldn't recall his name) broke the track bike record of 101-mph with a 103 mph shot. Another of his riders, Al Keys, increased it to 121.62 mph, which was one of the fastest speeds by anything at Santa Ana or anywhere else. Then, Ted Irio powered Herbert's "Beast" to a record 129.49 mph.

"Motorcycles were faster than the dragsters in the early 1950s with guys like Tommy Auger, Lloyd Krant, Keys, Pat Pressetti, Mike Ward and Bud Hare," he said. Herbert's Harley experiences proved to be highly educational and paved the way for a breakthrough in drag racing technology.

"My racing philosophy? I want to do something different," he said. "Nothing makes me happier or is more fun than to come up with something really different . . . and make it work really good."

In addition to landmark race times, Herbert had a hand in some of the most inventive cars that ever appeared on a drag strip. In 1960, he built a three-engine, Chevy gas burner that Allen "Lefty" Mudersbach drove to a 9.36 ET and 163.63 mph.

In 1962 he and Roy Steen put together two twin nitro-burning, injected F-85 Olds V8s in a Top Fueler, one of which Jeep Hampshire drove to an 8.10 San Gabriel Raceway record. The same year, he put driver Zane Shubert in a side-mounted 450 cubic inch Chevy, rear-motored sidewinder. Shubert said in a later interview that the car would launch great, but any time after a couple hundred feet it would hook hard to the left or right. That project was shelved.

"I'm still involved in engineering and design," said Chet. "In 1995, I designed a four-valve engine based on a 500 cubic inch Cadillac. Put over two years of work into it."

But he was told that NHRA had changed the rules on the 5-inch bore center, and that 4.9 inches was the new limit. Chevys and Chryslers were both 4.8. Angrily, Herbert built a two-valve, 4.9-inch bore center Ford engine, with Ralph and Spike Gorr putting it into a Top Fueler and Billy Williams in his alcohol Funny Car.

During this period, there were no cam grinders who built roller cams, so Herbert decided to do it himself. He went to the local Sears store, bought a lathe and turned it into a cam grinder, punching out a couple of bump sticks and dynoed it in a "circle car".

Bill Johnson, a friend of Herbert's who had an Indy 500 car, told him to go with a Hilborn fuel injector. "It turned out 275-280 horses, more than an Offenhauser," Herbert remembered. "The car qualified third in a Texas Champ Car race. The roller cam worked to a 'T' and everyone wanted a roller cam after that."

And that's roughly how Herbert got into the cam business. "Nobody made roller cams for about 10 years," said Chet. "It was about 1959 or '60 before anyone else made them. Take away the roller cams and Zoomie headers from a Top Fueler, and see how it performs. You'll probably lose a full second."

On the drag racing front, Gary Cagle drove the Herbert Cams/Torco Oil fueler to top speed of the meet at 180.36 mph at Bakersfield's first Smokers' U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships in March of 1959. On May 31st of that year, Robert "Jocko" Johnson and his incredible streamliner ran the sport's best elapsed time with an 8.35-second run at 178.21 mph at Riverside Raceway.

Herbert had a string of successes from 1961 through 1965, with Lefty Mudenbach, Shubert, Jeep Hampshire, Nye Frank and Bob Muravez, as he won titles in Nevada, Texas and California.

As a manufacturer, Herbert enjoyed a lot of drag racing success. For example, in 1965, Paul Sutherland drove the Herbert-cammed Top Fueler to the 1965 top speed at 219.51 mph and won that year's AHRA Top Fuel World Championships at Lions Drag Strip.

Herbert's heart was always with the Chevys, but their days were numbered as a competitive engine in 1965. "Drag racing is strictly money now," said Chet. "More the money, the better the car runs. Hire the best crew chief and buy a jillion parts.

"Originally, Prudhomme was just a driver . . . he'd walk over and sit in the car while Keith Black did the engine work on the Hemi. He was the first of the big-name engine builders. After that, everything was high dollar."

Herbert says drag racing is a good spectator sport. "No place else where you can get that thrill when the nitro engines are running," he said. "It's a show now, and not a race."

Sadly, he says today's kids have completely lost interest in cars, where back in the '60s and '70s, every kid wanted a hot rod. Chet doesn't feel that's the case anymore. "The business is dying," he says. "The only people we sell to are the old guys. Just no interest."

And, why is that? "New cars are so complicated you can't work on them. And the old Chevys that people worked on are almost all gone. "The hot deal for a kid now is to buy a truck. The more it costs, the better they like it!"

Still, for Chet Herbert, he's still truckin'. And all it takes to put a smile on his face is the sound of a muscular engine singing a powerful song.

Polio may have knocked Chet Herbert off his motorcycle, but he never let that stop him from taking center stage in the swift and demanding sport of drag racing.

Chet Herbert has lots of high performance parts available in his store.




No, these are not the 'Beach Boys'. They are the 'boys at the beach' (circa 1959, at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach). Included in the picture are Chet Herbert's side-by-side mounted twin-engine dragster (second from the right), the 'ChiZler', driven by Chris Karamesines (fourth from the right), Allen 'Lefty' Mudersbach and Joe Leonard with the Albertson Olds Dragster (left end).

[pwd72s]

Damn...another pioneer bites the dust. Our loss...Surely there is a hot rod heaven as well as a rock n' roll heaven.

[racing97]

I had the pleasure of meeting him at Aase Motors in Fullerton, he use to drop his wife off to pick up her 924 he was one of the pioneers.

regards

[PeteT]

I met Chet back in 1994 when I started dating his daughter in college. I eventually married her (now divorced-that is for another thread) and worked for him from 1996-1999. I worked on two of his engines while I was there. Did a lot of the programming and machining and learned a ton from the master of tinkering. The guy was a genius. Self educated never took an engineering class in his life but through trial and error developed an incredible amount of cool stuff. I wish I still had all the pictures of the stuff we had in the shop. He had a dirt track car that he ran a few times in Oswego that was based on 2 stroke engines that shared a common combustion chamber. They almost immediately banned the car after it took FTD. He knew more about camshafts than God himself. Learned Mastercam by sitting in front of the computer and hacking away day after day. Instead of using solid works or something like that he developed port shapes by hand on the computer. Incredible tenacity.

He developed Polio in '48 or '49 on his way back from Arizona after checking out a Hotrod. His buddy and him stopped on the road to cool down in a reservior. His buddy didn't go into the water but Chet did. That night he started developing major pain in his back and within a few days was bed stricken. At the time he was about 6'4" and they didn't have any iron lungs big enough to handle an adult of that size. Since Polio was mostly in children it wasn't normally a problem. There was a chamber up in Oxnard that he spent a lot of time in but ultimately didn't help. He has been in a wheelchair ever since, and he wouldn't use the lightweight ones. When I knew him he was driving a 1998 El Dorado because of the large doors. He was able to scoot into the drivers seat and then lift the wheelchair into the back seat by himself. His upper body strength was very impressive.

A very interesting man but very hard to work for. I learned a lot from him and he will be missed.

[Mo_Gearhead]

Now there is a name from the past.

The FIRST auto engine I ever built was a 327 for my 1955 Chevy (in 1967) and the camshaft I chose was a Chet Herbert grind.

R.I.P.

[Zeke]

Man, what a list of names. What a social fabric. I never met Chet Herbert, but I must have stepped in his footprints more than once.

I bet no one here knows who Nye Frank is. I was at Mickey Thompson's at the same time as Frank and Danny Ongias.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by milt

I bet no one here knows who Nye Frank is. I was at Mickey Thompson's at the same time as Frank and Danny Ongias.

Milt - not to hijack a good thread, but did you work on that monocoque Mustang Funny car that M/T built and Ongias drove? (and I don't know who Nye Frank is, probably read the name but . . . )

[Mo_Gearhead]

Milt ...recognize anyone in this photo?



OCIR ( circa 1971)

[Zeke]

No Frank there, but Little John?

[Mo_Gearhead]

Milt, do you mean 'Lil John Buttera?

I don't think that is him. Never saw him with hair that short!

I was just in the pits that day and snapping photos. I did not know either of the two men ...just thought you might, since you knew some of MT's crew.

[Mo_Gearhead]

Quote : "I bet no one here knows who Nye Frank is."
_____________

Big "off road" vehicle builder/racer.

Bizarre way to die for him. Fist fight with a much younger kid, as I recall.

[Zeke]

Well, the one kneeling might possibly be Gary Gabelich, but i can't find any link between the two, Mickey and Gary. Seems odd since they both were in Long Beach.

[slakjaw]

My dad was into drag racing when I was a kid. I remember when Eddie Hill did the 4.99 run. Now a days it seems like you could go the races and there might be 10 other people there.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

My dad was into drag racing when I was a kid. I remember when Eddie Hill did the 4.99 run. Now a days it seems like you could go the races and there might be 10 other people there.

Have you been to the Nationals in Brainerd? Packed